Surgical procedures may require a clinician to gain access to a cavity or other desirable surgical site within a body of a patient. To perform such a surgical procedure, an incision may be made through a tissue of the patient into the cavity. Some conventional surgical procedures may apply a knife, such as a scalpel, to the tissue for the incision, while some less invasive surgical procedures, such as laparoscopic and endoscopic surgical procedures, may access the cavity through a trocar assembly. Traditional trocar assemblies generally include a trocar obturator received within a trocar cannula. In use, the clinician directs the trocar obturator and the cannula through the tissue in order to access the cavity of the desirable surgical site. Once accessed, the clinician withdraws the trocar obturator from the trocar cannula so that the trocar cannula may be used to introduce surgical instruments into the cavity for treatment.
Examples of trocar assemblies, components thereof, and other varieties of surgical access devices and wound closure devices are provided for in U.S. Pat. No. 7,981,092, entitled “Vibratory Trocar,” issued Jul. 19, 2011; U.S. Pat. No. 8,226,553, entitled “Access Device with Insert,” issued on Jul. 24, 2012; U.S. Pat. No. 8,251,900, entitled “Surgical Access Devices and Methods Providing Seal Movement in Predefined Paths,” issued on Aug. 28, 2012; U.S. Pat. No. 8,579,807, entitled “Absorbing Fluids in a Surgical Access Device,” issued on Nov. 12, 2013; U.S. Pat. No. 8,568,362, entitled “Surgical Access Device with Sorbents,” issued on Oct. 29, 2013; U.S. Pat. No. 8,636,686, entitled “Surgical Access Device,” issued on Jan. 28, 2014; U.S. Pat. No. 8,690,831, entitled “Gas Jet Fluid Removal in a Trocar,” issued on Apr. 8, 2014; U.S. Pat. Pub. No. 2008/0200950, entitled “Surgical Hook,” published on Aug. 21, 2008; U.S. Pat. Pub. No. 2015/0038793, entitled “Devices, Systems, and Methods for Providing Surgical Access and Facilitating Closure of Surgical Access Openings,” published on Feb. 5, 2015; U.S. Pat Pub. No. 2015/0038994, entitled “Devices, Systems, and Methods for Providing Surgical Access and Facilitating Closure of Surgical Access Openings,” published on Feb. 5, 2015; and U.S. Pat. Pub. No. 2015/0094741, entitled “Wound Closure Device including Mesh Barrier.” Published on Apr. 2, 2015. The disclosure of each of the above-cited U.S. Patents and Publications is incorporated by reference herein.
Surgical instruments for use with such surgical access devices may have a distal end effector for engaging tissue through the access device in a number of ways to achieve a diagnostic or therapeutic effect (e.g., endocutter, grasper, cutter, stapler, clip applier, access device, drug/gene therapy delivery device, and energy delivery device using ultrasonic vibration, RF, laser, etc.). Laparoscopic and endoscopic surgical instruments may include a shaft between the end effector and a handle portion, which is manipulated by the clinician. Such a shaft may enable insertion to a desired depth and rotation about the longitudinal axis of the shaft, thereby facilitating positioning of the end effector within the cavity of the patient. Positioning of an end effector may be further facilitated through inclusion of one or more articulation joints or features, enabling the end effector to be selectively articulated or otherwise deflected relative to the longitudinal axis of the shaft.
While various kinds of surgical instruments, including surgical access devices and end effectors, and other associated components have been made and used, it is believed that no one prior to the inventor(s) has made or used the invention described in the appended claims.
The drawings are not intended to be limiting in any way, and it is contemplated that various embodiments of the invention may be carried out in a variety of other ways, including those not necessarily depicted in the drawings. The accompanying drawings incorporated in and forming a part of the specification illustrate several aspects of the present invention, and together with the description serve to explain the principles of the invention; it being understood, however, that this invention is not limited to the precise arrangements shown.